When Manchester Citybecame the richest club in the world on one crazy day back in September, one of the presenters on Manchester United's in-house television station likened it to "the scruffiest family on the estate winning the lottery". Since then there has been a stream of insults and barbs emanating from Old Trafford and yesterday it was Sir Alex Ferguson's turn to jump back on the bandwagon.

Ferguson has questioned whether City are "all talk" and, more provocatively, whether they could go the same way as the famous "Bank of England" Sunderland side that was relegated in 1958. The United manager is never slow to mock the club's neighbours - at one stage renaming the City of Manchester stadium "The Temple of Doom" - and took great delight in cranking up the hostilities before the first Mancunian derby of the season on Sunday. "Where are they [City] at the moment?" Ferguson mischievously asked of his audience and seemed affronted by the suggestion that United should have concerns about the immense wealth generated by the multi-billionaire Abu Dhabi United Group. "Excuse me! It is Chelsea and Liverpool who are sitting above us - aren't they? That's our focus."

It was a classic Ferguson put-down and only 24 hours after Wayne Rooney promised United would prove they were the "kings of Manchester" at Eastlands, it is setting the scene for an even spikier encounter than usual.

Extra spice is added because it could be Dimitar Berbatov's first game against City since rejecting them for a move to United on transfer deadline day. He has missed two goalless draws since suffering a hamstring injury but he appears to be winning his fitness battle.

City's bid for worldwide domination has clearly got under the skin of some at Old Trafford and, unusually for this fixture, most of the pre-match sniping has come from the red half of the city rather than the blue. Ferguson, however, would be entitled to point out that there was "plenty of talk" from City earlier in the season.

He was particularly unimpressed when he heard City's executive chairman, Garry Cook, predicting that a club with no trophy since 1976 could "become bigger than United" and would soon be genuine Champions League contenders. Ferguson has also described the boasts that City would sign Cristiano Ronaldo for £135m as "absolutely absurd".

City's plan is that they will be able to compete for the top prizes in two years but Ferguson is sceptical. "When [Roman] Abramovich came in and bought all those players, Chelsea won the league for the next two years. But there are other examples where it has not worked.

"It's easier said than done. That's when decision-making has to come into it and it's Mark [Hughes, the manager] who is left with that responsibility. For Chelsea it has worked, their success rate has been good, they've stayed at the top and they're not spending the way they did when Abramovich first came on the scene. But you can look at other clubs where it hasn't worked."

City won both derby matches last season for the first time since the 1969-70 campaign but there was not even grudging praise from United's manager. "We were unlucky," he argued. "You always hope in a big game to carry your share of luck."